JPH11234328A - Equipment and method for communication - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a communication equipment and a communication method for improving the utilization efficiency of a network by gathering and distributing electronic mail at the time of being connected to the internet through the network. SOLUTION: At the time of being connected to the internet from the dial-up server 106 of an internet service provider or the like through a PSTN/ISDN 105, in the case that the electronic mail of transmission standby from a PC 102 or a WS 103 which is a client is present, the electronic mail is transmitted to a mail server 107 on the internet and the electronic mail to the client is received from the mail server 107 on the internet and distributed.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a communication apparatus and a communication method for dial-up connection to the Internet via a network to provide a client with browsing of the e-mail and the homepage on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a local area network (L)
From the terminal device connected to the public network (PSTN).
/ ISDN), a method using a dial-up router, for example, is available.

[0003] LAN using a dial-up router
When the terminal inside the terminal accesses the partner device outside the LAN, the dial-up router recognizes the destination information such as the IP address from the data output from the terminal and automatically dials the public network to establish a connection with the partner device. Is going.

When browsing a homepage or the like on the Internet from a terminal in a LAN, the dial-up router recognizes a datagram carrying a data request from the terminal, and if the terminal is not connected to a public network, the connection is renewed each time. Is going.

In particular, even when sending an Internet e-mail, the dial-up router recognizes a datagram having a mail server destination specified in advance,
Similarly, a dial-up connection is made from the public network. Similarly, each time an e-mail is received from the mail server, a dial-up connection is made each time.

[0006]

However, in the above-described conventional example, a connection to the public network is made each time a home page is browsed or an e-mail is transmitted / received from each terminal in the LAN. There was a problem.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and a communication apparatus which improves the utilization efficiency of a network by collecting and distributing e-mails when connected to the Internet via a network. And a communication method thereof.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the present invention provides a communication apparatus for dial-up connection to the Internet via a network, and for providing a client with browsing of e-mails and home pages on the Internet. An interface means for connecting a plurality of clients; a dial-up connection means for dial-up connection to the Internet; and an e-mail processing means for collecting and distributing the e-mail, wherein the dial-up connection means The electronic mail processing means collects and distributes electronic mail when the electronic mail is connected to the Internet.

[0009] More preferably, the electronic mail processing means collects and distributes the electronic mail after the dial-up connection means makes a dial-up connection to the Internet for browsing the homepage.

[0010] More preferably, the electronic mail processing means transmits an electronic mail from the client to a mail server on the Internet by an SMTP protocol.

More preferably, the electronic mail processing means receives an electronic mail from the mail server on the Internet to the client by a POP3 protocol.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication method for a communication apparatus which dials up the Internet via a network and provides a client with browsing of an e-mail and a homepage on the Internet. When a dial-up connection is made to the Internet, if there is an e-mail waiting to be sent from the client, the e-mail is sent to a mail server on the Internet, and the mail server on the Internet sends the e-mail to the client. Is received and distributed.

[0013]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network system including an image communication apparatus according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 denotes an image communication device, which is connected to a LAN and a public network, which will be described later. 102 and 103 are PCs respectively
(Personal computer) and WS (workstation), which can browse e-mails and homepages. A LAN (local LAN) 104 connects the apparatus 101, the PC 102, the WS 103, and the like. Reference numeral 105 denotes a public network such as PSTN or ISDN. Reference numeral 106 denotes a dial-up server such as an Internet service provider, which provides a connection service to the Internet. Reference numeral 107 denotes a mail server, which stores e-mails to be collected and distributed. Reference numeral 108 denotes a WWW server, which is installed on the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing the configuration of the image communication apparatus shown in FIG. In the figure, 201 is C
It is a PU and controls the entire device. Reference numeral 202 denotes a ROM, which is a memory for storing a control program for the CPU 201, various control data, and the like. 203 is a RAM, C
This is a memory including a work area, various tables, program control variables, and the like used by the PU 210 when executing processing. 2
Reference numeral 04 denotes an e-mail holding unit, which temporarily holds e-mails collected and distributed via the LAN 104 or the public network 105.

Reference numeral 205 denotes an SMTP server unit.
It implements the TP protocol and provides e-mail transfer services to SMTP clients inside and outside the device. 206
Is an SMTP client unit, and SMTP inside and outside the device
Ask the server to forward the email. 207
Is a POP3 server unit that implements the POP3 protocol and provides an e-mail transfer service to POP3 clients inside and outside the apparatus. Reference numeral 208 denotes a POP3 client unit, which requests an POP3 server inside or outside the apparatus to transfer an e-mail.

A LAN interface 209 uses TCP / IP as a protocol. 210
Is a PSTN interface, PSTN, ISDN
It is for connecting with etc. A dial-up control unit 211 transmits an IP datagram using the PPP protocol. A TCP / IP control unit 212 implements the TCP / IP protocol.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an operation of transmitting and receiving an electronic mail according to the present embodiment. First, in step S101, when an IP datagram which is transfer unit data on a TCP / IP network from the PC 102 or WS 103 on the LAN 104 via the LAN interface unit 209 reaches the TCP / IP control unit 212, the TCP / IP control unit 212 sets a route based on the IP header information of the IP datagram. Specifically, it checks whether the destination IP address in the IP header information matches the IP address of the apparatus 101. Here, if they match, the process proceeds to step S102, referring to the TCP header, and determining whether to transfer to the SMTP server unit 205 or to the POP3 server unit 207 based on the port number. Note that the content transferred to the SMTP server unit 205 is sent mail data, and the content transferred to the POP3 server unit 207 is a transfer request for received mail.

As a result of step S102, the SMTP
If the transfer is to the server unit 205, the process proceeds to step S103, where the IP datagram is transferred to the e-mail holding unit 204, and is temporarily held as transmission mail data. If the transfer is to the POP3 server unit 207, the process proceeds to step S104, where the received mail is extracted from the e-mail holding unit 204 based on the transfer request of the transferred received mail, and transferred to the requesting PC 102 or WS 103.

On the other hand, in the above-mentioned step S101, the destination IP address in the IP header information corresponds to the PC 102 on the LAN (local LAN) to which the apparatus 101 is connected.
Or, if it is not the IP address of WS103, step S1
Go to 05 to start dial-up connection. Specifically, the above-mentioned IP datagram is transmitted to the dial-up control unit 2.
Then, the dial-up control unit 211 starts connection to the dial-up server 106 such as an Internet service provider via the public network 105 via the public network interface 210. Then, step S1
In step 06, when the connection to the Internet is completed, the process proceeds to step S107, in which the IP datagram is converted into an HDLC frame.
Transmission to 06 starts.

At this time, if the e-mail holding unit 204 holds the e-mail waiting for transmission (step S108)
Yes), the process proceeds to step S109, and connects to the external mail server 107 set in advance via the public network interface 210, and the SMTP client unit 206
Sends the e-mail using the SMTP protocol.

Similarly, the POP3 client unit 208 connects to the external mail server 107 via the public network interface 210, and receives an e-mail addressed to a preset account using the POP3 protocol. The received mail is stored in the e-mail holding unit 204 (step S110). The received mail stored in the e-mail holding unit 104 is delivered to each terminal in the local LAN under the management of the POP3 server unit 207.

If the TCP / IP control unit 212 does not detect the arrival of the IP datagram addressed to the outside after a certain period of time has elapsed (Yes in step S111), the dial-up control unit 211 executes the dial-up server 106. The connection with the network is disconnected, and the line is disconnected by the public network interface unit 210 (step S
112).

According to the present embodiment, electronic mail transmitted from a terminal in the local LAN to the outside is temporarily stored in the apparatus, and a dial-up connection is established from the public network for connection to a WWW server or the like on the Internet. By piggybacking on the occasion and sending and receiving e-mails collectively, the public network can be used efficiently and the economic efficiency can be improved.

The present invention can be applied to a system including a plurality of devices (for example, a host computer, an interface device, a reader, a printer, etc.), and can be applied to a single device (for example, a copier, a facsimile). Device).

An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing a program code of software for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or an apparatus, and to provide a computer (CPU or MP) of the system or apparatus.
It goes without saying that U) can also be achieved by reading and executing the program code stored in the storage medium.

In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code constitutes the present invention.

As a storage medium for supplying the program code, for example, a floppy disk, hard disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, CD-ROM, CD
-R, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, or the like can be used.

When the computer executes the readout program code, not only the functions of the above-described embodiment are realized, but also the OS (Operating System) running on the computer based on the instruction of the program code. ) May perform some or all of the actual processing, and the processing may realize the functions of the above-described embodiments.

Further, after the program code read from the storage medium is written into a memory provided in a function expansion board inserted into the computer or a function expansion unit connected to the computer, based on the instruction of the program code, It goes without saying that the CPU included in the function expansion board or the function expansion unit performs part or all of the actual processing, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing.

[0031]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the use efficiency of the network by performing the collection and distribution of the e-mails when connecting to the Internet via the network.

[0032]

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network system including an image communication device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram showing a configuration of the image communication device shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an e-mail transmission / reception operation according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 This apparatus 102 PC 103 WS 104 LAN 105 Public network 106 Dial-up server 107 Mail server 108 WWW server 201 CPU 202 ROM 203 RAM 204 Electronic mail holding part 205 SMTP server part 206 SMTP client 207 POP3 server part 208 POP3 client 209 LAN interface 210 Public network interface 211 Dial-up control unit 212 TCP / IP control unit

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A communication device for dial-up connection to the Internet via a network to provide a client with browsing of an e-mail and a homepage on the Internet, wherein: an interface means for connecting a plurality of clients; Dial-up connection means for dial-up connection to the Internet; and e-mail processing means for collecting and distributing the e-mail. When the dial-up connection means connects to the Internet, the e-mail processing means A communication device, which collects and distributes data. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processing means collects and distributes the electronic mail after dial-up connection to the Internet by the dial-up connection means for browsing the home page. The communication device as described. 3. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said electronic mail processing means transmits an electronic mail from said client to a mail server on said Internet by an SMTP protocol. 4. The communication device according to claim 1, wherein the electronic mail processing means receives an electronic mail from the mail server on the Internet to the client by a POP3 protocol. 5. A communication method for a communication device that provides a client with a dial-up connection to the Internet via a network and provides browsing of an e-mail and a homepage on the Internet to a client. When there is an e-mail waiting to be sent from the client, the e-mail is sent to a mail server on the Internet, and the e-mail is received from the mail server on the Internet to the client and delivered. The communication method of the communication device to be described. 6. The communication method for a communication device according to claim 5, wherein the electronic mail is collected and delivered after dial-up connection to the Internet for browsing the home page. 7. The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the transmission of the electronic mail is performed according to an SMTP protocol. 8. The communication method according to claim 5, wherein the electronic mail is received by a POP3 protocol. 9. A computer-readable storage medium storing a communication processing program code, wherein when a dial-up connection to the Internet via a network is made and an e-mail waiting for transmission from a client is present, the Internet A storage medium, comprising: a code for transmitting the electronic mail to a mail server above; and a code for receiving and delivering an electronic mail from the mail server on the Internet to the client.